The Lost Traveller

“I don’t think I want to be anything. In fact, I hate thinking about the future at all.”

“How do people become real? Does one just change as one gets older? Or did something definite happen to you?”

On the brink of the Great War when Clara Batchelor is almost 15, her grandfather dies and her mother, Isabel, becomes seriously ill with “female troubles” related to a dangerous, later-in-life pregnancy. Having had to finance Isabel’s costly operation, Clara’s father, Claude, can no longer afford to send the girl to Mount St. Hilary Convent School, where prominent Catholics send their daughters.

White not only tells the story of Clara, now back at home and attending the Protestant St. Mark’s Girls’ School, but she also show more spends a good deal of time on the two people who exert the greatest influence on the girl: her intense, conflicted, and emotionally disturbed father and her beautiful, narcissistic mother. Clara’s new friendships with two Jewish girls—the studious Ruth Philips and the flirtatious, high-spirited Patsy Cohen (whose lively, busy and noisy home provides a significant contrast to Clara’s dark and quiet one on Valetta Road)—are also explored.

Claude Batchelor converted to Catholicism when Clara was a child of seven. The ritual, the pomp, Claude’s self-identified “feudal temperament”, and a compulsion to rein in dark urges and a sinful nature were all factors in his decision. Claude’s relationship with Clara, though not literally incestuous, is certainly emotionally so. His reaction to her budding sexuality is alarmingly inappropriate. Claude is demanding, controlling, and ambitious for his daughter. A boys’ school classics teacher who would have preferred a son, Claude sees academic potential in his daughter and attempts to steer her towards Cambridge, at a time when few women attended institutions of higher education.

Clara is, however, “the lost traveller” of the title. She is rudderless after leaving the convent school. She belongs neither to the Catholic world nor the Protestant one, and though she claims she does not want to marry, she also rejects life as a bluestocking. She ends up taking a position as a governess to a precocious, spoiled ten-year-old boy, Charles Cressett, the only heir to a wealthy, old Catholic family in Worcestershire. Once installed in the Cressetts’ Jacobean great house, Clara meets a young man from a nearby estate who is even odder and more adrift than she, Archie Hughes-Follett. “From babyhood,” we are told, “he had attracted accidents and misfortunes of all kinds or [had] been the innocent cause of accidents to others.” A soldier, now at home convalescing after a grenade explosion that killed another man, Archie, is another only son of a wealthy old Catholic family. Clara’s meeting with this young man proves to be a fateful one, life-changing and tragic.

The Lost Traveller is an intense, absorbing, “old-fashioned” (in the best sense) read. It explores not only the adolescence of a young girl but the lives of her parents (and their influence on her). Though there are melodramatic elements, characterization is strong, the writing can be quite evocative, and White creates a convincing portrait of a girl who cannot find her way. show less

The Lost Traveller opens in 1914, as Clara Batchelor returns home from her convent boarding school to attend her grandfather's funeral. At 15, Clara has been a student at Mount Hilary for 6 years, ever since her father's decision to convert to Catholicism. Clara is a typical 15-year-old girl:
For the last few months it had been misery for her to be alone with either of her parents. It was all the worse because she had no idea why this was and Clara was always frightened by anything she could not explain. There seemed to be a new creature growing up inside her, something still unformed and skinless that could not bear to be exposed to the light. The thoughts that nourished this inner self were too sacred and silly to be told to her father show more or mother and the myseterious creature was insistent, resenting interruptions and demanding constant attention. (p. 35)

This book is an autobiographical novel and sequel to Frost in May, which chronicles a young girl's early years in convent education. This first book is of the genre known as "school stories": books about the horrors of boarding school. The Lost Traveller is a more sophisticated coming-of-age novel. The characters are much more fully developed than those in Frost in May, and the reader gains considerably more insight into Clara's parents. Her father dotes on his daughter, although she is constantly in fear of disappointing him. Clara's mother locked in an unfulfilling marriage and sees her daughter as somewhat of a rival. Her father's grief over his own father's death is palpable, but her self-centered mother distances herself from her husband's loss and offers little emotional support.

Not long after the funeral, Clara learned this would be her final term at Mount Hilary, and that she would then attend St. Mark's School, an Anglican day school where her father is also a teacher. At Mount Hilary, Clara often felt out of place with the wealthy student body. At St. Mark's she found herself in a less restricted environment among her own socio-economic class, but this time her Catholicism made her the "odd one out." Over the next two years Clara oscillated between being a sensible academic high achiever and a frivolous, self-centered schoolgirl. Clara's secondary education came to an end with the first World War as a backdrop. She was too young to serve as a nurse, and briefly entertained thoughts of a Cambridge scholarship. Instead she accepted a short-term position as a governess. While the war had little direct impact on Clara, her father faced further loss as favorite pupils were killed in action. Then suddenly Clara was faced with a significant event which shook her to her core, and forced her to think through what was important in life.

This novel was much deeper and more enjoyable than I'd expected, and whetted my appetite for the remaining books in this series: The Sugar House and Beyond the Glass. show less

This is a coming of age story of the an only child of her recently converted Catholic parents. She attended school at the Catholic school until she had to leave because of financial strain due to mother's illness. She then attends public school, gets distracted by things that teenage girls get distracted by. It is nicely written, not much happens until toward the end. After finishing the book, I read some introduction that said this book was written out of the authors own life, while it is not a memoir, it is fiction.

Sheltered teen Clara Batchelor becomes enmeshed in family dramas after she returns home from the convent that had been her school since childhood. Her dysfunctional, self-absorbed parents, especially her domineering father, manipulate her loyalties, and finally send her away from home to be a governess for an obnoxious young boy. In the wake of tragedy, aimless Clara, the "lost traveler" of the title, comes close to making a rash decision that would affect the rest of her life.

This novel contains several scenes of great emotional impact, but also has long stretches of rather tedious descriptions. Structurally, at times it seemed like a series of barely connected vignettes. Despite my mixed feelings about the novel, I am curious about show more what Clara will do next, so I may follow through with the rest of the trilogy. show less

This is considered the second book in Antonia White's Frost in May quartet. It's a bit confusing though, as the name of the main character changes from Nanda to Clara; I've read up a bit on White, and I understand things a bit better now, although I'm more curious than ever about what is autobiographical and what is made up.

White published this book 17 years after Frost in May; she has said that Frost in May was "so much my own life" and she wanted The Lost Traveller to be a real novel; she also said that everything in The Lost Traveller is "the sort of thing that happened" to her, "though many things are changed, many invented." This book explored more from the point of view of Clara's mother and father than the previous book, but show more clearly also focused on Clara from the time she returned home from a convent school at fifteen to when she got engaged at seventeen. There is a lot going on in this short time frame, some really disturbing stuff and a shock here and there. I'm quite curious to see how it continues. show less

The Lost Traveller is a continuation of the story that was told in Frost in May; although the names have changed (“Nanda” is now “Clara”), the characters are essentially the same. When her grandfather passes away, Clara is sent home from her convent school. The reader watches her grow into adulthood, strongly influenced by her Catholic parents, while the first world war rages. The Lost Traveller is the first of a proper trilogy that continues with The Sugar House and Beyond the Glass.

Clara has a rather intense relationship with her parents, particularly her father, and a lot of the novel focuses on how she struggles with reconciling her childhood with her future, as uncertain as it is. As with Antonia White’s other novels, show more the theme and story are based on personal experience; White was heavily influenced by her Catholic upbringing, as is Clara. There’s more fiction in The Lost Traveller than there is in Frost in May (Clara’s relationship with Charles is an example). Therefore, the characters are much more fully developed and seen more objectively from the reader’s point of view. When I first started reading this book, I thought it was going to be yet another coming of age story, but I was pleasantly surprised. There’s so much depth to the story and its implications. show less

the lost traveller

This was my final read for August, and I must say I absolutely loved it. Antonia White is mainly known for her quartet of novels which began with Frost In May, which was the first ever Virago Modern Classic. I re-read Frost in May about two years ago and although I enjoyed it – there was something a little disturbing about the story of the breaking of a young girl’s spirit. I have now collected each of the remaining three books of the quartet together – and I am so glad that I have.

In The Lost Traveller (which is apparently very autobiographical) Nada Grey of Frost in May has become Clara Batchelor – and The Five Wounds School has become Mount Hilary, but they are essentially the same place.
As the novel opens show more in 1914 Clara is fourteen, her paternal grandfather has just died, and with her father Claude grief stricken at the demise of the parent he had undeservedly put on a pedestal – Clara is called home from her Catholic boarding school for the funeral. Clara’s mother Isabel is a strange cool creature, irritated by her mother-in-law – she adores her daughter – but feels Clara’s reserve toward her very keenly. Clara both adores and fears her father; terrified of his disapproval she does what she can to please him.

At the heart of this novel is the complex relationship between Clara and her parents. Clara is an only child of Catholic converts, Claude a respected school master, and Isabel a fragile beauty whose ancestors were quite grand. Claude is ambitious for Clara – with a scholarship to Cambridge in mind for her, Isabel is less keen on the idea of a bluestocking daughter, wanting her only to be beautiful. Just as he worshiped his father, Claude worships his wife; Clara resents her, hating the way she speaks to Claude and her grandmother. The relationship between Clara and her father verges on the ever so slightly disturbing, Clara is a daddy’s girl, and yet the relationship with her father doesn’t always bring her happiness, at one moment revelling in a shared confidence or appreciation of a piece of music – the next made miserable by one of Claude’s dreadful rages.

“Oh thank you, Daddy. You do look magnificent,” she said, pinning on her flowers and gazing at him with admiration. Evening clothes suited him; they set off his fairness and made him seem taller. Never, she thought, had she seen him looking so young and handsome.
She giggled with sheer happiness.
“I never thought I’d go to the opera with you in your opera hat, I do feel grand.”
He offered his arm.
“Your carriage is waiting.”
To her amazement, it was no mere taxi but a hired car with a chauffeur in livery. A hired car was the very greatest of luxuries associated only with the most solemn family feasts such as her parents’ wedding anniversary. Never before had he ordered one just for Clara.
“Daddy you are spoiling me,” She said, leaning back on the thick grey cushions.”

Clara is irritated and even repelled by her mother’s affection. Isabel knows only too well the realities of a Catholic marriage, she wants her daughter to marry, but insists she must marry for love, in her terrible ignorance of the facts of life; Clara is bound to misunderstand her mother. Isabel is a wonderfully drawn character, often unhappy and jealous of Clara and Claude’s relationship. The one thing that Clara and Isabel seem to agree on is Pagets Fold, the Sussex country home of Claude’s family, a small house with 40 acres, where his two spinster aunts live in a sort of caretaker role. Clara and Isabel love the aunts and for Clara, Pagets Fold represents an idyll to which she looks forward to returning each summer holiday.

Shortly after the death of her grandfather, Clara is forced to leave her Catholic boarding school – that has become a blissful haven from home life – as her father can no longer pay the fees following a mysterious illness of her mother’s which resulted in high doctor’s fees. Clara will spend her final year of schooling and subsequent sixth form at a protestant day school. Saddened at the loss of her friend Nicole de Savigny – who Clara instinctively knows she will be unable to keep up with – their social orbits being of an entirely different kind, Clara fears her removal from the place where she feels safe. However at her new school Clara makes two particularly good friends, who serve to help Clara develop at little bit of spirit and creative flare. No longer quite as buttoned up, Clara starts to blossom, and is no longer quite sure that Cambridge is for her. On the brink of womanhood, and in the middle of the Great War – Clara leaves her family to spend six months as a governess in a good Catholic home, where she will be treated as one of the family and able to re-connect with her Catholic upbringing. Here Clara is supremely happy, reverting almost to childhood in her antics with her young charge. However when the first really tragic event of her young life comes along, Clara is really tested. Clara needs to work out how to heal herself and move forward. show less